Simple Spanish Food

A Great Spanish Bubbly: Juvé y Camps Brut Nature Gran Reserva Cava

In the under $10 range, it's hard to beat Segura Viudas Brut Reserva, but if you're willing to spent a bit more ($18 and up)  Juvé y Camps Brut Nature Gran Reserva is an even better bargain.  Unlike the overrated Anna de Codorníu,  Juvé y Camps Gran Reserva is a truly special cava   In Spain this is the cava often included in the more elegant cestas de navidad (Christmas Gift Baskets).  It has a high reputation, and it deserves it. We drink Juvé y Camps on New Year's Eve and other special occasions.  It's one of the few cavas that achieves that magical, ethereal quality of a great sparkling wine.  This is best cava I've tried.  

For years we could not find Juvé y Camps here in the U.S.--at least not in our area--but lately World Market has been carrying it at a great price.  

 

New Organic Tempranillos Worth Trying

We recently tried two organic tempranillos, a Spartico from Valencia and a Viña Cuesta Colorá from La Mancha.  I wanted to try them  after reading  Matt Kramer's praise for organic wines in the Wine Spectator, and I'm glad we did.  Both (especially the Spartico) are light, clean, fresh, with some fresh fruit, just  what a tempranillo from these regions should be, but too seldom is, at least here in the U.S.

In Spain, finding this easy-drinking style of tempranillo from La Mancha or even further south is easy. Go to just about any bar in Madrid and ask for the vino tinto de la casa and you'll probably get a light and mellow tempranillo  from Valdepeñas--a perfect accompaniment for just about any tapa on the menu. But for some reason the wine exporters seem to lean towards a completely different style of tempranillo when choosing for the U.S. market. They go for heavy, thick, high alcohol wines with often muddled flavors of overripe fruit, a style we rarely come across in Spain.   

But this isn't the case with these two organic tempranillos.  Is it because they are organic? Because they contain no sulfites? I don't know. But if you're looking for a light red of the sort Spaniards would actually drink with paella or countless tapas, these organic tempranillos are the way to go.

Both of these tempranillos are vegan. Neither has added sulfites, so it's probably best to finish the bottle the day or day after you open it. We paid under $15 for the Viña Cuesta Colorá and the Spartico was a steal at around $8 a bottle.

 

Some Ruedas, Good and Fantastic

 

Rueda (a denominación de origen in Castilla y León) produces some of my all-time favorite Spanish white wines.  White ruedas are usually made with an ancient variety of grape called verdejo.  A good rueda should be nearly-bone dry, with a very light astringency.  The Spanish wine writer and mystery novelist Manuel Vázquez Montalbán even goes so far as to say that ruedas should have "a very light touch of bitterness."  This may sound unappealing, and in fact some people (such as Ana's Aunt Lely) find ruedas to be too harsh.  Others (like me) love them.  The touch of astringency makes ruedas unusually refreshing.  They go great with fish and salt cod dishes (and though I have not tried it, I bet a good rueda would be absolutely fantastic with rabbit).  Also, ruedas offer a change of pace. Like many Spanish whites, they are the exact opposite of the heavy, peachy whites that seem to dominate the world wine market these days--only more so.

   

The other day Ana and I had a fantastic rueda, a Vevi 2011. It was everything a rueda should be. We had it with local-caught amberjack and steamed Florida lobster and it was out of this world.

It was less than $12 a bottle--not a bad price by rueda standards. It's made with a blend of verdejo and viura grapes. I used to think that the best ruedas were always %100 verdejo. This one proved me wrong.

This Naia 2009 for example is made with 100% verdejo, and it was pretty good--but not quite as dry as I think a rueda should be, and with riper fruit. (I liked the Vevi much better). I felt the same way about this Palma Real 2009.  I suspect that both of these ruedas are toning down the dryness and that "very light bitterness" to suit mass market tastes, but by doing so they lose a lot of what makes ruedas special.

 

And then there are some ruedas out there that don't taste like ruedas at all, such as this El Hada, 2008.   It's a fruity crowd pleaser, a rueda that sold out.

 

One day I hope to go to rueda and try some of the old-style "rancio" wines there, which are completely different from the new style ruedas I've described here. I'd also like to try some of rueda's reds. 

 

The Moscato Menace

In her most recent article for the Wall Street Journal "Why You'll be Drinking Moscato This Year," Lettie Teague predicts that moscato will be "the hottest wine of 2012." She notes that "sales of Moscato grew by a mind-boggling 78% in 2011."  The wine industry experts she interviews ominously compare the trend to that of white zinfandel and even the wine-cooler craze of the 80's.

Spain grows a lot of moscatel, as moscato  is called in Spanish.  The Spanish wine industry is trying to take advantage of the grape's new popularity.  This should be a good thing because Spanish moscatel can be outstanding. 

Traditional Spanish  moscatel is usually a fortified dessert wine, enjoyed much like Pedro Ximénez or Málaga.  (Some Málagas are based on moscatel.)   There are also dry versions of moscatel. (Torres has one.) I will be posting about a traditional Spanish moscatel in the future.

Unfortunately the new Spanish "moscatos" I'm seeing here in the U.S. are not traditional Spanish moscateles at all but imitations of the popular inexpensive brands like Barefoot Cellars and Yellow Tail.  They even have the Italian/world-wine name "moscato" on the label rather than moscatel.

La Ardilla, pictured above, is from Valencia and it is made with moscatel grapes. But the label says  "moscato," and the wine has nothing to do with traditional Spanish moscatel.  It's probably  a concoction for the American market.  It's full of artificial fizz and tastes strongly of saccharine, like Alka Seltzer cold medicine.

Lulu B., another non-traditional "Spanish moscato," reminded me of an inexpensive pseudo-riesling,  complete with petroleum overtones.

If you see a wine from Spain labeled "moscato" (rather than Spanish  moscatel), be wary. A picture of a little animal on the bottle, a girl in a beret, or something similarly cute, is also a bad sign: see my post "Judging a Spanish Wine by its label."   There is a good chance that the wine in question is not a traditional Spanish moscatel at all, but rather an attempt to get a foothold in the lucrative new moscato market through imitation of its worst examples.

On the other hand, if you are lucky enough to find a Spanish moscatel at your local wine shop, it's certainly worth a try.  

La Tienda's Sherry Page has a selection of several good moscateles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anna de Codorníu Brut Cava: Is it as good as they say?

I've been reading about Anna de Codorníu for years now, and a few weeks back I finally had a chance to try it.  This is the cava that's supposed to have some of the complexity and body of a good French champagne because it is made with a traditional champagne grape--chardonnay--rather than the usual Catalan trio of parellada, macabeo and xarel-lo. Anna de Codorníu does contain some parellada, but most of it--70%--is chardonnay.

The wine writer Oz Clarke gives Anna a star and calls it "especially good" for a Codorníu. He goes on to say that all Codorníu sparklers are "better than the cava average."

Anna de Codorníu has a clean "biscuity" taste. Though dry, it has a faint sweet note. It has none of the cider-like flavor (often described as "baked apple") that some cavas have to excess. 

In other words, Anna de Codorníu is  much like Codorníu Brut Original.  The chardonnay does not make much difference.

Is Anna de Codorníu as good as they say? No, it's just a good basic cava, better than most, but nothing really exceptional.

That said, Anna de Codorníu costs about $15 a bottle.  As I've said before (and will say again), you could easily spend several times that price on a sparkler from France or California and wind up with an inferior wine.   

 

 

 

 

 

Bierzo: A Unique Spanish Red

Bierzo was  one of the favorite wines of Andrés, my father-in-law.  Bierzo is a D.O. in western León, in the north of Spain, very near his native Galicia.  The wines of Bierzo are usually made with the  mencía grape.

Although there are now some fine Bierzos out there--the wine writer Oz Clarke praises them, and Ana has them in nice restaurants when she's in Galicia--most are young reds. They are not too sophisticated, but Andrés loved them, and Ana and I do too.

What makes the wines of Bierzo exceptional is that they go so well with rich, strongly-flavored foods (grilled sardines or sausages) or slightly acidic foods (tomato sauces, all sorts of salads) that just don't pair well with most wines. 

A Bierzo is perfect for many of the hearty vegetarian and vegan dishes I write about here at Simple Spanish Food.  If you're looking for the right wine to accompany vegetarian caldo gallego or a cocido of chickpeas, spinach and mushrooms or alubias estofadas, look no further than Bierzo. It  compliments the smoky, spicy pimentón in all of these dishes.

Andrés loved Bierzo with pulpo a la gallega--Galician-style octopus, a strongly flavored dish dressed with fruity olive oil, raw minced garlic, coarse salt, and lots of pimentón.  Bierzo also goes well with homey dishes like salt cod in tomato sauce. If I were grilling pork ribs and sausage, I would not hesitate to serve them with a Bierzo.

What makes a Bierzo perfect with food normally so difficult to pair with wine is its "brightness"--a slight acidity--and, oftentimes, an unsual body, which can be thick yet light, as though it wants to bubble.  (Some reds in neighboring Galicia, such as the local red ribeiros, also often made with the mencía grape, are slightly effervescent, and good with similar foods for the same reasons.)

In short, young (and relatively inexpensive) Bierzos retain the characteristics of their simple country-wine roots,  so it's not surprising that they go so well with simple, country Spanish food.   These same qualities make most Bierzos unsuitable for drinking on their own: the wines of Bierzo are made for food. If you want a glass of something to sip while watching a movie, don't choose a Bierzo.

Are these young Bierzos delicate and nuanced? No. They are not meant to be. At the same time I find them much more exciting than the Yeclas and Jumillas produced farther south--wines I find much more often in wine shops here in the U.S.  Though growing in popularity, Bierzos are still not all that common. If you see one, it's usually well worth a try.

Bierzo also produces some nice, light,  minerally whites--even more difficult to find. These will be the subject of a future post.

 

Spanish Wines Under $20: Alvear Amontillado

In my post on Tio Pepe Fino I said that fino is one of the best apéritifs ever, but the truth is I often have a hard time deciding whether I would rather have an amontillado--a darker, richer, and nuttier sherry-type wine. In the end, I let the food decide.  If nothing goes better with green olives than fino, nothing goes better with black ones than amontillado. 

Amontillado is known mainly as a wine of Jerez.  Check out the on-line Spanish foods store La Tienda to see a good selection of sherries, including several quality amontillados.

Unfortunately we rarely, if ever, find quality amontillados from Jerez in wine shops here in Central Florida.  Instead they carry the sweet, spiked imitations labeled amontillado. You have to be careful.  Even some amontillados genuinely from Jerez aren't good. As I explained in my post on fino, Spain has a long tradition of exporting its worst sherries, especially to England, and keeping the best for itself.  For example, this "amontillado" from Osborne (normally a reliable brand) was sweet, dull, and not much better than the so-called sherry sold in most supermarkets, though at $15 it cost nearly twice as much.

The amontillados of Montilla-Moriles are an alternative. Montilla-Moriles is a DO (denominación de origen) in Andalucia, like Jerez, but in neighboring Córdoba.  Alvear is a good brand of Montilla-Moriles, and fairly easy to find. 

The amontillados of Montilla-Moriles are different than those of Jerez. They're softer and sweeter--though not artificially sweet like the bad amontillados I've described.  Montilla-Moriles amontillados go very well with toasted hazelnuts, tidbits of rich meats (like bacon), consommé, and bronze grapes stuffed with blue cheese.

Wine guides--even the best ones like those by Oz Clarke--often dismiss the export wines of Montilla-Moriles as inexpensive imitations of sherry. It would be more accurate to say that they're just a different style of wine that resembles sherry in some ways.

To me, a botttle of Alvear Montilla-Moriles is disappointing only when compared to the local versions of this wine often served straight from the barrel in Córdoba. Montilla-Moriles tastes better when kept in the barrel--an ancient practice.  Why? I don't know.  It's not true of sherries, which taste just as good from the bottle.  But with the wines of Montilla-Moriles, it's just the way it is.  

So if you want to try truly great Montilla-Moriles wines, go to Córdoba. (If you go in early May, you can check out the patio garden shows while you're there.) If you can't get to Córdoba right away, try some Alvear, which is the next best thing.

 

 

 

Spanish Wines Under $20: Pazo San Mauro Rías Baixas Albariño 2008

Albariños are wines made from the albariño grape. They usually (but not always) come from Galicia, the region in the Northwest of Spain.  Rías Baixas is the denominación de origen of many of the best of these wines and, indeed,  according to wine writer Oz Clarke, some of the best whites in all of  Spain.

Albariños tend to be a bit pricey, especially for young white wines from Spain, a place that still produces lots of quality whites at very low prices.  (See my posts on Marqués de Cáceres white rioja and Protocolo white, a vino de la tierra de Castilla for examples).  Good albariños like Pazo San Mauro are worth it though, especially with fine seafood.  A sommelier friend of ours in Oregon used to tell  us how in blind tastings in the Willamette Valley, albariños won hands down in the best wines for seafood category.  

What makes albariños so special and so perfect for seafood is their dryness, the notes of herbs and minerals, and, in the best of them, a near-absence of fruit.   This gives them an indescribable lightness.

Beware: in our local wine shops we have recently come across low-priced albariños, usually in the $7-$12 range, that have very little, if any, of the classic albariño taste.  They taste much like the ordinary fruit-heavy young whites that now dominate the cheap white wine market.  So if you're shopping for albariño,  it's important to select a good one.

Andrés, my father-in-law, who was a native of Galicia, loved albariños. His favorite of all was Fefiñanes, one of the oldest bodegas and the first to bottle wine under the Rías Baixas DO. He and Esperanza used to drink this wine in the sixties with excellent Galician seafood.  I have not had the opportunity to try Fefiñanes yet. According to Andrés, it was very dry, all herbs and minerals. "Old style," he called it.

He also enjoyed Pazo de Señorans albariño, which he described as "more modern," with more fruit.  He meant more fruit for an albariño of Rías Baixas, which is very little fruit by most standards.   Pazo San Mauro's wine is in this style.  Try it with simple Spanish seafood dishes, especially shellfish.

 

 

Spanish Wines Under $15: Taurus Toro Roble 2005

In a recent post on Marqués de Riscal Rioja Reserva, I mentioned how it's no longer so easy to find a really good rioja at a good price.  Some day, probably soon, this will also be true of the wines of Toro, but for now it's still possible to find outstanding bargains .  Wine writer Oz Clarke warns that Toro's prices are going up though. He also describes the wines of Toro as a "country cousin" to Ribera del Duero in flavor, but "more robust."

Taurus' Toro Roble 2005 isn't for everyone.  If you like mellow, fruity,  easy-drinking reds, it may be too aggressive for you. Taurus Toro Roble 2005 is the wine-equivalent of strong, very dark, almost bitter chocolate.   You either love it, or you don't.  (I love it). 

Despite the name "roble," which means oak in Spanish, Taurus' Toro hasn't spent long inside a barrel, only a few months--so the oak taste is light. 

This wine would go very well with lentil soup or venison.

 

Spanish Wines Under $20: Marqués de Riscal Rioja Reserva 2004

Finding a good Rioja at a good price is no longer as easy as it once was.   Sure, there are still plenty of young Riojas, both red and white, most of which are pleasant and  inexpensive, but there's usually nothing special about them. 

Move up to the Crianza category (red wines aged a minimum of 1 year in oak,  2 years total) and especially the Reserva (aged 1 year in oak,  three years total), and the prices quickly spiral upward. And  many of these Riojas aren't outstanding, at least not for the price.  For special occasions we have splurged on expensive (for us) Muga and other prestigious brands of Rioja, and while not exactly disappointed with them, they were far from bargains. They were really nothing compared to some of the Riojas we enjoyed twelve or fifteen years ago in Spain for a small fraction of the price.

Marqués de Riscal Rioja Reserva 2004 is an exception.  It has the classic Rioja taste--the fresh acidity wine writers often compare to strawberries combined with  the earthy, toasted flavors of oak (Marqués de Riscal ages its Rioja reserva in American oak  two years). And you can still often find it for less than $20.

Marqués de Riscal Rioja Reserva is made from 90% Tempranillo--a very versatile grape used to make an incredible range of wines in Spain, from rather coarse and rough Castilian reds to powerful but refined Toros.   In body, color, and complexity,  Marqués de Riscal Rioja Reserva resembles a good pinot noir (though it's different).

As this is a fairly serious wine, we usually save it for meals especially well suited to it. It's great with many Spanish preparations of venison.  It would also go extremely well with duck, grilled beef and especially lamb. 

Marqués de Riscal was where the wine we know today as rioja really began.  The sticker you see on the lower part of the bottle is a reproduction of the Diploma of Honour from the Bordeaux Exhibition of 1895: Marqués de Riscal was the first non-French wine ever to receive it.